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Grace Bible Church

4000 E. Collins Rd.   P.O. Box #3762   Gillette, WY  82717   (307) 686-1516

 

- Preaching the Living WORD through the Written WORD - 2 Tim 4;:2 -

 

 

 

 

ERRONEOUS VIEWS OF SANCTIFICATION

3/27/13

Grace Bible Church, Gillette, Wyoming

Pastor Daryl Hilbert

 

VII.  ERRONEOUS VIEWS OF SANCTIFICATION

 

A.    Introduction

 

1.     Let me first say that this is not an attack on any individual denomination or group. Rather it is a sincere attempt to show distinctions between the biblical view of sanctification and those which delineate in whole or in part.

2.     In addition, any investigation into the doctrine of sanctification will quickly lead to a conclusion that there are various agreements as well as divergences among different denominations. Therefore, it seemed best to list the major distinctions according to denomination or movement.

3.     All of them involve the idea of “sinless perfection” or “entire sanctification” but with different nuances.

a)    Speaking generally, this doctrine is to the effect that religious perfection is attainable in the present life. It is taught in various forms by Pelagians, Roman Catholics or Semipelagians, Arminians, Wesleyans, such mystical sects as the Labadists, the Quietists, the Quakers,[Holiness Pentecostals, Keswick teaching,]and others, some of the Oberlin theologians, such as Mahan and Finney, and Ritschl.  These all agree in maintaining that it is possible for believers in this life to attain to a state in which they comply with the requirements of the law under which they now live, or under that law as it was adjusted to their present ability and needs, and, consequently, to be free from sin. (Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology [with my insertion])

4.     Accordingly, “sinless perfection” does not necessarily mean that that a believer will be perfect in full conformity to the holy Law of God. In most cases, “sinless perfection” means conformity to some law, such as the “law of Christ.” In addition, it does not necessarily mean perfection from sin, as we know it, but from sin redefined.

5.     Furthermore, how and at what time one arrives at “entire sanctification” differs from group to group. Finally, an exhaustive study (which this will not be) of each of these views would require the explanation of “entire sanctification” as it relates to their  particular beliefs concerning Original Sin, the Fall of Man, Prevenient Grace, the Holy Spirit, and Eternal Security.

 

B.    Wesleyan View

 

1.     This view has been promoted by John Wesley, his  first and foremost of his classical defenders, his friend and confidant John Fletcher, and his followers.

2.     While Wesley taught that a believer is capable of falling into sin, they need not do so. He also maintained that a Christian can and will mature.

3.     However, what separated Wesley from biblical teaching was his belief that the war and inward rebellion from sin within a believer could cease entirely and instantaneously.

a)    There was a remedy for the sickness of systemic sinfulness, namely, entire  sanctification-a personal, definitive work of God’s sanctifying grace by which the  war within oneself might cease and the heart be fully released from rebellion into  wholehearted love for God and others. (Five Views on Sanctification, Wesleyan Perspective, Melvin E. Dieter)

b)    In all of them alike the sanctification which comes on this [second] act of faith, comes immediately on believing, and all at once, and in all of them alike this sanctification, thus received, is complete sanctification. (B.B. Warfield)

4.     Though such entire sanctification could take place at the moment of salvation, typically it takes place during a crisis of inability in the believer’s life.

a)    However, the scriptural exhortation to believers to pursue  perfection in love, as well as the struggles they commonly have with a divided heart,  indicates that believers typically appropriate purity of love in a distinct crisis of faith  sometime subsequent to justification. (Five Views on Sanctification Summary, Mike Sullivan)

5.     Viewing perfectionism, leads the normal believer to see it in association with God’s holiness, God’s holy Law, and entire written revelation. Here in-lies the problem. Perfectionism, betrayed by honest experience, necessitates the adjustment of which law it will conform itself.

a)    In their conception of the law which believers are now obliged to fulfill, the Arminians, including the Wesleyans, differing from all the rest in holding that this is not the original moral law, but the gospel requirements or the new law of faith and evangelical obedience. The Roman Catholics and the Oberlin theologians maintain that it is the original law, but admit that the demands of this law are adjusted to man´s deteriorated powers and to his present ability. And Ritschl discards the whole idea that man is subject to an externally imposed law. He defends the autonomy of moral conduct, and holds that we are under no law but such as is evolved out of our own moral disposition in the course of activities for the fulfillment of our vocation. (Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology)

b)    We can fulfill God's law of love in this life, despite all the failings and imperfections of the world. This is what Wesley calls the "optimism of grace. (Five Views on Sanctification Summary, Mike Sullivan)

6.     In the same manner, the definition of sin must be adjusted in order to conform to a lesser standard.

a)    It is very significant that all the leading perfectionist theories (with the sole exception of the Pelagian, which denies the inherent corruption of man) deem it necessary to lower the standard of perfection and do not hold man responsible for a great deal that is undoubtedly demanded by the original moral law. And it is equally significant that they feel the necessity of externalizing the idea of sin, when they claim that only conscious wrongdoing can be so considered, and refuse to recognize as sin a great deal that is represented as such in Scripture. (Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology)

b)    In all of them alike, however, it is added, that this complete sanctification does not bring freedom from all sin; but only, say, freedom from sinning; or only freedom from conscious sinning; or from the commission of “known sins.” (B.B. Warfield)

c)     Ultimately all perfectionists are forced to devise down-scaled definitions of sin, holiness, and perfection that can accommodate the imperfections of human carnality. (MacArthur, Vanishing Conscience)

7.     The question begs to be asked, “Where does sin and temptation come from which the believer must wage war? Perfectionism does not acknowledge sin and temptation from within, but from an external source of Satan and the world.

a)    But what is the source of the temptation’ Dieter and Wesley imply that the temptation to sin doesn't come from within but rather from the fallen world around us: “After declaring freedom from the dominion and inner presence of sin in the life of the Spirit-filled Christian (Rom. 8:1-17), he (Wesley) nevertheless acknowledges that we still live in a fallen, sinful world..."[18]

8.     Sin and temptation are reduced to slip-ups, misdemeanors, or venial sins.

a)    Most who hold this view believe “entire sanctification” is obtained all at once through a second work of grace. The believer is thereby elevated to a position of “perfect” holiness in which he or she no longer sins—at least not consciously or intentionally. Ordinary failings are called “mistakes,” or “temptations,” not sins. Only deliberate, premeditated, and grotesque acts are labeled sin. Sin is thus externalized. Evils clearly named as sin in Scripture are reduced to misdemeanors. And conscience must be dampened in order to cope with the doctrine. (MacArthur, Vanishing Conscience)

b)    Wesley's doctrine of entire sanctification leans heavily on his vague definition of sin. He believed that a Christian who has experienced entire sanctification enjoys freedom from deliberate sins.[23]  Slip-ups in behavior can still occur, but these result from living in a fallen world. Wesley called these lapses "mistakes."[24]  He said, "because we are imperfect persons in an imperfect world, perfection 'in love' is consistent with a 'thousand mistakes.' But limited as we are by our own and the world's imperfections, we may still enjoy a relationship in which, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can fulfill the great and final commandment of loving God with our whole heart..."[25] (Five Views on Sanctification Summary, Mike Sullivan)